Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Buff Monster lives in Hollywood and cites heavy metal music, ice cream and Japanese culture as major influences. The color pink, as a symbol of confidence, individuality and happiness, is present in everything he creates. Buff is known for putting up thousands of silkscreened posters across Los Angeles and also in faraway places. When his original and one-and-only wheat paste brush was no longer usable, seven years of frequent poster missions came to an end. Having given up a very productive street art career, he now works exclusively on fine art paintings, collectible toys and select design projects. His works have been exhibited in numerous galleries, usually accompanied by large installations to enhance the paintings. Aside from his Happy Creamy Vannen watch, he has many other projects in the works.

Vannen "Happy Creamy" by Buff Monster

Watch packaging for Buff Monster's "Happy Creamy"

"It's a fun and happy design. I keep exploring all these other crazy themes in my paintings, but this is a core Buff Monster design. A watch is a really functional item, so you have to take that into account when you're designing it. And the packaging is really simple, but I really like the cardboard bubble pack that it comes in."

Chris Ryniak was born in 1976 in a safely distanced suburb of Detroit. He spent his childhood basking in the warm glow of Saturday morning cartoons, monster movies and flipping over rocks in search of insects and reptiles. In his teenage years, Chris' attention would shift to the world of skateboarding and the artists associated with the skate community, which later led to interests in commercial illustration. A graduate and former instructor at the Ringling School of Art and Design, Chris is now a painter and sculptor of all manner of critters that grace canvases as well as toy and print platforms. Chris' work has been exhibited in galleries throughout the world and his paintings have also been published in numerous books and periodicals. Chris currently resides in a coastal Ohio Dutch Colonial with his wife, two children, cat and frog.

Vannen "The Order of Things" by Chris Ryniak

Chris Ryniak watch packaging for "The Order of Things"

"Chris Ryniak: The design is basically a carefully cropped version of my painting "The Order of Things." It was the first painting that I did that reflected my current visual direction, plus it was centered and had a face...like a watch. I had never given any thought to putting my art on anything that wasn't a large solid area (like a skateboard). I knew I wanted to use as much of one painting as possible, so I went through a lot of my paintings, trying to find the right one, and at the time, this one made the most sense to me to use on the watch."

Brian Morris lives on the southern side of Chicago, married, eats a lot of red meat, prefers pinot noir, favorite color is black, draws because he likes to, second favorite color is black, born in '76, works in advertising, '62 Cadillac in the garage, dead kitty's name tattooed on his wrist, doesn't believe in God, believes in people, heavy metal poser, country music, Sharpies, Faber-Castells, doesn't correct his drawings, tattoos, deep in love, early to rise, saver not a spender, knows you can't take it with you, raised in a small town, college degree, practice makes perfect, loves toys, collector of HotWheels, enjoys the darker side, steak, potatoes, breakfast with his wife at the Ramova Grill, not a big fan of TV, would go to bed at 9PM if he could, smokes too many cigarettes, doesn't smoke enough cigarettes, loves black cherry Kool-Aid, boobies, and he won't design you a tattoo.

Vannen "Time Waits For No Man" by Brian Morris

Watch Packaging for Brian Morris' "Time Waits For No Man"

"Brian Morris: Themes of life and death play a big role in the works that I create. This watch was an excellent opportunity to share my belief that "time waits for no man." I hope that each time the wearer checks the time they are reminded to make the most of every moment. Time will pass you by if you let it, but the end will not. [Watch design] has its challenges: The shape, materials and functionality were all things I'd not worked with before. The art was created in the same way I produce all of my drawings; it was the application that was real fun part."

As a child Damon became so engrossed with drawing that it became a distraction; at age 16 he dropped out of school opting for the immediacy of a GED. At 19 he moved to San Francisco and enrolled in the Interdisciplinary Program at the San Francisco Art Institute. In 1996 Soule became the Art Director and Co-founder of FIT Skateboards and Civilian Clothing. After art directing the brands for a number of years, he sold his portion of the business to pursue art full-time. Soule's art has been featured in group exhibitions in San Francisco at 111 Minna Gallery, Punch Gallery, Southern Exposure Gallery, Culture Cache, New Langton Arts and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Recent shows also include "New Works by Oliver Vernon and Damon Soule" at BLVD Gallery and "Green Art Exhibition" at Robert Berman Gallery.

No comments:

**The Hero Boutique will be closed from March 10-23. We will be on the road at various events, including SXSW and Flatstock 24, you can read more about our trip here. If you are in Austin, please come by the Convention Center and say 'hi'. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause. We will resume regular hours on March 24. Thank you for understanding.**

Check us out on Etsy

EMAIL US

Contact us if you have a link suggestion, are looking for some design work, or just want to say hello: hero.design {at} mac.com.

About Me

Based in Buffalo, NY, Hero is husband and wife team, Beth and Mark Brickey. The screen printing, illustration and design duo have, to date, created over 200 hand printed rock posters, album packaging, identities, merchandise and more.
Hero's Boutique is Western New York's largest retailer of limited edition designer toys, silkscreen concert posters, P22 font collections & so much more designer geek stuff.
We are NY's largest Authorized Kidrobot Dealer outside of the city.
Located at 93 Allen Street Buffalo, NY 716.858.4376